Year Three / Section Two Political Developments in 20 C Ireland
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YEAR THREE / SECTION TWO POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN 20 C IRELAND Ireland in 1900. Ireland was part of the British Empire, the Union Jack flew over all public buildings, such as Trinity College and the GPO and Queen Victoria was Head of State. A Chief Secretary was responsible for the day to day running of the country and he lived in the Phoenix Park [now the US Ambassador’s Residence]. A Viceroy represented the crown and he also lived in the Park [now Áras an Uachtaráin]. Nationalists were people, who believed that Ireland should have its own Parliament, elect its own leaders and make its own laws. They were mainly Catholic. Unionists were people, who believed that Ireland should maintain its Union with Great Britain. They were mostly Protestant, lived in the North-East of Ireland and were descended from those who been granted land during the Plantations of the 16th/17th centuries. Why did Unionists wish to keep the Union with Britain? They wished to remain subjects of the English crown. While the Union remained they were a religious majority. In an independent Ireland they would be in a minority and they feared this. They owned and worked in the Shipbuilding and Linen industries in Ulster. The future of these depended on access to the markets of Great Britain and the Empire. If Ireland became independent they would lose this. Were all Nationalists the same? No – Nationalists were divided into two groups, Constitutional Nationalists – They wanted a separate Parliament, but would accept a British monarch as Head of State and allow Britain to look after Ireland’s defence and Foreign Policy. They supported The Home Rule Party. Republicans – They wanted to break all links with Britain and believed this could only be done by force and violence. They formed a secret group, known as the Irish Republican Brotherhood or I.R.B. Their policy was to wait until Britain was involved in a major war and then stage a rebellion. “England’s difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity” By 1910 Irish Nationalists were becoming very powerful in the British Parliament. An election in that year had given the Home Rule Party 80 seats. However the two largest parties in Parliament, the Liberals and the Conservatives had failed to win an overall majority and needed the votes of the Home Rule party to form a Govt. In return for their support the Home Rule Party demanded Home Rule for Ireland. The Liberal Party, under David Lloyd George agreed. 58 The Irish Cultural Revival; After the Famine, the Irish Language went into decline, helped by emigration and economic factors. Also in decline were native games such as Gaelic football and Hurling. Towards the end of the 19th -century, a number of organisations were formed to stop this decline and revive native culture. These organisations also had the effect of making people more aware of their “Irish ness”. The Gaelic Athletic Association [G.A.A.]. Founded in Thurles in1884 by Archbishop Croke, its aim was to preserve Gaelic Football, Handball and Hurling. Clubs sprang up in every parish and competitions gave rise to a new feeling of local, county and national pride in being Irish that had not been there before. The G.A.A. encouraged anti-British feeling as a way of defining a separate Irish identity. The Gaelic League. Founded in Dublin in 1893 by Douglas Hyde and Eoin Macnéill, its aim was to restore Irish as the National Language. Patrick Pearse edited their newspaper “An Claidheamh Solais”. In 1913 they scored a major success when Irish became compulsory at all Irish schools. The Anglo – Irish Literary Society. In 1905 W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory set up the Abby Theatre to present plays written by Irish writers in the English Language. They presented the work of J.M. Synge, among others. Sinn Féin. Founded in Dublin in 1905, by Arthur Griffith. He argued that Irish Members of Parliament should refuse to go to the English House of Commons and instead set up a Parliament and Government in Dublin with the King as Head of State. Sinn Féin drew little support, as most people were sure that the Home Rule Party was about to achieve self-rule for Ireland. The Labour Movement. In the early years of the 20th -century, Dublin had the worst living conditions for poor people in Europe.75% of workers were unskilled and employed on a daily basis. Trade Unions were legal, but they only represented skilled workers. Socialists [people who encouraged workers to demand their rights by peaceful means.] suggested that workers should unite and refuse to work for bosses who failed to give proper pay and conditions. James Larkin was one of these and he came to Ireland to help Dublin Dock-Workers organise themselves. A friend of his James Connolly believed that armed revolution was necessary to secure proper conditions for workers. Together they founded the Irish Labour Party in Clonmel in 1912. After the 1913 Lockout when bosses turned police on striking workers, Connolly formed the Irish Citizens’ Army, to protect workers. This would later play a part in the 1916 Rising. The Struggle for Self-Rule. Home Rule Bills had been introduced to the British Parliament before, but the House of Lords, which had the power to veto any law, had defeated them. 59 In 1911 The Parliament Act took away the Lords veto. They could now only delay a law for two years. In 1912 a new Home Rule Bill was introduced to Parliament. It was passed through the House of Commons but the House of Lords put a delay of two years on it. Ireland would have Home Rule by 1914. The Unionists were horrified by this development and set about making their feelings known They drew up a petition called The Solemn League and Covenant in September 1912. Edward Carson and James Craig, the Unionist leaders, threatened to set a separate government in Ulster rather than be involved with the Catholic South. Ulster Volunteer Force – was set up in January 1913 to defend Ulster from Home Rule. It had 100,000 members. In April 1914 they brought 20,000 rifles from Germany to Larne in Belfast. The British Govt turned a blind eye to it. But Unionists were now in a position to resist Home Rule by force. Meanwhile in the South the supporters of Home Rule had observed what was happening in Ulster and took steps to defend Home Rule, Irish Volunteer Force – was set up, by Eoin MacNéill with 180,000 members to protect Home Rule. In July 1914 they landed 1,500 rifles at Howth. Ireland was on the verge of Civil War. The House of Lords suggested a compromise – that the country should be partitioned, with Ulster being allowed to go its own way. The outbreak of WW I shelved the problem. The Ulster Volunteers joined the British army to fight against the Germans. However when the Irish Volunteers came to make a decision there was a split in the movement. 170,000 agreed to join the British Army, but 11,000; led by Eoin Macnéill refused and remained in Ireland, preferring to wait for “Ireland’s opportunity”. The 1916 Rising. In May 1915, five members of the I.R.B. began to plan a rebellion. Thomas Clarke, Seán MacDiarmada, Thomas MacDonagh, Joseph Plunkett and Patrick Pearse. In January 1916, they invited James Connolly to join them. They had secured an offer of weapons from the Germans, to arrive on the “Aud”, Easter week. Thing went wrong from the start. On Good Friday, the “Aud “was captured in Kerry. Deciding to proceed anyway, the rising was called for Easter Sunday, then cancelled, then rearranged for Easter Monday. Realising that the rising could not now be a military success, the organisers went ahead, hoping that their deaths would encourage others to give their lives for Ireland. On Monday 24th April 1916, 1,500 Volunteers captured important buildings in Dublin – GPO, Royal College of Surgeons, and Boland’s Mills. Pearse stood outside the GPO and announced that a Republic had been set up. The British declared Martial Law, and a gunboat “Helga” sailed up the Liffey and bombed O Connell Street. On Saturday 29th, Pearse surrendered in Moore Street. General Sir John Maxwell was sent to take control of the situation and to punish the 60 leaders. Maxwell was a poor choice; he was harsh and within days had signed 190 execution orders for men and women. Over nine days in May he executed the first 12 and 1,800 were deported to a concentration camp at Frongach in Wales. The effect of this on public opinion was devastating. Initially very hostile to the rising, the harshness of Maxwell turned the General Public into supporters of the leaders and of their ideals. Every time he spoke to the media, Maxwell called the events the “Sinn Féin rebellion”. In reality the rebellion had nothing to do with Sinn Féin. However the public quickly came to believe that it had and support for that party soared. Victory for Sinn Féin. In December 1916, as a gesture of goodwill, most of those deported were released. While in prison they had been trained by the I.R.B. and converted to Republican ideals. A whole new generation of leaders, including Michael Collins, returned home and were greeted as heroes by huge crowds. Throughout 1917 support for Sinn Féin continued to soar, by 1918 there were 1,250 branches of the party in the country. Collins set up an excellent intelligence network, which was very efficient at finding out what the British were up to.